Cluster Analysis as a Tool of Evaluating Clusters of the EU Countries before and during Global Financial Crisis from the Perspective of the Labor Market

Tomáš Pivoňka, Tomáš Löster

Abstract

The aim of this paper is using cluster analysis to show changes in the clusters composition of 27 EU countries during the current economic crisis. The authors use the characteristics of labor market as an input into cluster analysis. The situation on the labor market is one of the most discussed sections of countries’ economies. The authors discuss the impact of the current economic crisis on the structure of labor market and the composition of the group of countries before (2008) and during (2012) the crisis. The authors use the method of cluster analysis to generate the group of countries. They have chosen the following indicators of labor market: unemployment of different year old groups, unemployment of gender groups and the rate of participation of these groups.